When patients are under anesthesia during surgery, the patient's eyes are generally taped shut by the use of ordinary tape. The taping of the eyes is performed for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is to protect them from abrasions or cornea drying out while under anesthesia. The patient does not tear while asleep so that the eye can dry out especially when under anesthesia. For the anesthesiologist, this requires tearing a strip of tape while wearing rubber gloves and gripping the tape to remove it after the operation. The use of ordinary tape provides a problem for the patient since the eyelashes can stick to the adhesive and cause problems.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,339,546 and 4,062,361, which are herein incorporated by reference, disclose hydrocolloids which can be used in the adhesives of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,944 to Rice discloses a narrow skin closure dressing for eyelids comprising an adhesive layer on backing material, a multi-layered pad covering a portion of the face of the backing material and an outer layer of the backing material being free of adhesive. One or more side tabs are provided to assist in removal. The closure is primarily for use after surgical procedures.
The prior art closure dressings have the problems that they are difficult to handle with gloves. They are non-transparent and do not cover the eyes but only the upper eye lid so that the eyes can still be unprotected.